2015 Bird box cam

beyond the blue

beyond the blue

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Neil
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I have had a bird box camera set up for the past few years and find it fascinating. Other people I know with these have been saying that with the relatively mild winter we have had the birds appear to be nesting quite a bit earlier than normal. I have been looking at some details I have from last year and find it's about the same. The Blue Tits have started putting the first pieces of nesting material in today, just 4 days earlier than last year. I installed a 720 lines camera this year to replace my old 360 lines. The box can be seen in the garden, it's only about 25 feet away but it's on the limit of the wire free transmission range.

Reason for edit, some of the original post was missing

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Good stuff, we had bluetits last year in our 'cam-box', they successfully raised 6 young.
They've come back this year, the nest it complete and we already have an egg in it! :eek:
 
Not sure what the hell is happening today?
The egg is gone, and the nest is pretty much destroyed :(
It was a bluetit doing the destroying, so I don't know if it was a different one or if it just wasn't happy, or maybe a spring clean? but I hope it gets tidied up!

View attachment 34129
 
Strange! It was either, it had laid to early or like you say it's a new bird re-doing what it thinks is an old nest. It will be interesting to see what happens. I've always fancied seeing what would happen if I left the old nest alone until next year instead of cleaning it out.
 
We have 4 boxes round about and I've never cleaned them out in over 20 years, they are occupied every year
 
RacingSnake said:
Not sure what the hell is happening today?
The egg is gone, and the nest is pretty much destroyed :(
It was a bluetit doing the destroying, so I don't know if it was a different one or if it just wasn't happy, or maybe a spring clean? but I hope it gets tidied up!

View attachment 34129
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It could be that the parent has just pulled nesting material over the egg as they haven't started brooding yet, they will wait for the rest of the clutch first so they all hatch at a similar time
 
Big Andy said:
It could be that the parent has just pulled nesting material over the egg as they haven't started brooding yet, they will wait for the rest of the clutch first so they all hatch at a similar time
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Maybe? If so, just how long can an embryo stay alive without being incubated? The bluetits that use my box usually lay around 8-10 eggs over a 10 day period, but Gavin's bird egg is already at least 8 days old.
 
In that case it won't be the what I mentioned above, you would expect to see an extra egg each day until the clutch was complete not an eight day gap. Could be a young inexperienced pair just making a mess of things, hope they get their act together soon.
 
the nest is even more empty than usual this morning... and then we saw this behaviour... WTF??


(eta, sorry about the poor recording and tv line scanning!)
 
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RacingSnake said:
@beyond the blue How is your nest coming along?
Following the vid above, ours pretty much emptied the whole box, then rebuilt it in about 2 days flat.

As of this morning we have 4 eggs :)
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This is mine today.

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I'm expecting the first egg any day now. The bird has been bringing in the soft stuff for the past couple of days and spending every night in there (this didn't happen last year until the first egg was laid)

Glad yours is sorted so quickly, like you said it's probably because your in the tropics ;).
 
Gavin, Can I ask what camera system you are using, you seem to have better colour than me. I made my own box and put a couple of opaque windows in to get more light in there but the colours are still poor although the picture quality is very good. Still no eggs for me yet but the blue tits can be seen mating in the tree next to the box.
 
beyond the blue said:
Can I ask what camera system you are using
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I have a (hangs head in shame) "Aldi" bird-box cam. :exit:
They were doing them on offer a couple of years ago for £25, so I bought 4 of them :D - gave 3 away as christmas presents and put this one up myself.
Like you mentioned, it also has 2 opaque windows in it for light (and it has sound too - which is nice).
 
Typical.
I'm away on business and my wife has text me this morning to day that half of the eggs have hatched.
Last year I missed the fledging because of business :(
 
This is fascinating stuff, I like how you guys monitor their progress and see what they're getting up to!
 
Great stuff.
I got home last night, and watched ours this morning, we've got both parents in and out feeding now.
We still have at least 1 egg not hatched though :(
 
Well, things are not good in the box this year I'm afraid. We finished at 9 eggs, four of which didn't hatch. The 5 chicks soon became 3, I'm assuming the 2 dead ones are still in the bottom of the nest somewhere because the flies have moved in. Also one of the parent birds has done a runner. Not a pretty sight.
 
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oh no :(
I wouldn't usually suggest it, but can you intervene? even by whipping out the dead ones?

Our final 6 are slowly turning black as the feathers start to develop, both parents are in and out all the time.
 
This is all very fascinating, could I please ask how you go about this? Where is the camera located in the bird box? Is it a special bird box designed for a camera? Do you need a electric socket to power the camera or is it battery powered! A link to the camera would be very helpful. I've been thinking about setting up a bird box camera for a while, just like spring watch in your own home:)
 
rob-nikon said:
This is all very fascinating, could I please ask how you go about this? Where is the camera located in the bird box? Is it a special bird box designed for a camera? Do you need a electric socket to power the camera or is it battery powered! A link to the camera would be very helpful. I've been thinking about setting up a bird box camera for a while, just like spring watch in your own home:)
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I made my own box and installed 2 opaque windows to try and get more light in there for better colour, with hindsight I should have used larger windows as the colour is not great on my camera. I made the windows out of the plungers from silicone tubes.

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This is a link to the camera system I am using this year https://www.spycameracctv.com/spycamera/wireless-birdbox-day-night-hidden-camera-receiver. Last year I only used one with 360 lines resolution and the picture was quite poor. The camera has wireless picture transmission and really only good for up to 12 mtrs. The camera works of mains voltage through a 12v transformer and comes with quite a long cable which I plug into a nearby shed. The receiver is also mains operated with a choice of 4 working channels. Hope this helps.
 
Now I see your windows, yes, mine are much larger, they span the entire width and a third to half of the side of the box!

Latest status is that whilst watching this morning, 2 of ours opened their eyes! (they look quite sinister with their eyes open!)

View attachment 37352
 
Great videos and images. I've been tempted with a bird box camera setup for some time, but it all baffles me a little. What kind of setup are you using? is it wireless or wired?
 
Mine is wired, I have about 20m of cable, but it's only about 2m from our window, so it's all coiled up still.
Ours has a combined power/scart lead... so I plug it in in the house, plug the scart into the TV, and just run the cable outside.
Incredible simple setup.... "fool-proof" if you will :D
 
Yes not good, but I've been thinking it out, the other parent bird has not been around for over a week and the remaining bird was struggling feeding on her own, so I'm wondering if this is a way of ensuring at least some of the chicks will survive rather than none. Nature works in mysterious ways!
 
Looks like yours has done well, 5 or 6 there by the looks of it? The 2 remaining ones of mine have come on amazingly well since the mother killed the others in the brood. The other parent bird never did show up again so probably met it's demise somewhere. I reckon mine should be leaving the nest in the next few days. After they have gone I will alter the box and put bigger windows in to get better colours for next year.
 
Thanks Neil, yes from the original 8 eggs, 6 hatched, and we've still got them all (and both parents) - I must say though, the poor parents look very raggedy! clearly been a tough few weeks for them.
All ours are stretching their wings and practicing 'flying' in the box, so it's a bit cramped in there at the moment.

I wonder what it must be like to be a fledgling seeing the 'outside world' for the first time! :thinking:
 
That's it... All gone!!! :banana:

Video'd the first one leaving, and watched the rest leave.
They too about 1hr 30 for all 6 to go, they left "2 by 2" at half hour intervals - each time the parents were 'tempting' them out, flying in with food and then flying off again without giving it to them.

What a fantastic morning :)
 
RacingSnake said:
That's it... All gone!!! :banana:

Video'd the first one leaving, and watched the rest leave.
They too about 1hr 30 for all 6 to go, they left "2 by 2" at half hour intervals - each time the parents were 'tempting' them out, flying in with food and then flying off again without giving it to them.

What a fantastic morning :)
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Nice one! Bet you feel like a proud granddad :)
 
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